10 Super Science & STEM Summer Camps for Los Angeles Kids

Ten summer science camps - try saying that 10 times fast! Or you could stop muttering to yourself and just check out our top ten picks for great summertime science adventures available to our kids just because they live in in and around LA. We've collected a variety - indoor, outdoor, animal-driven, robot-driven - all of which have been test driven by parents we trust. But if your summer cannot live by science alone, check out the art, cooking,horse, and classic outdoorsy camps in our Summer Camp Guide and Directory!

Kidspace Children's Museum
480 N. Arroyo Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91103
626.449.9144
9am-5pm (half days and full days available)
Ages 6-9 (4 - 5 for the "Little Learners" session only)
Kidspace takes the "museum" part of its name to heart and makes sure that each week of camp is packed with educational opportunities. This summer's topics include Amazing Animals, Mystery Detectives, and Bug Band. Kidspace promises to send your kid home knowing the meaning of E=mc².

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium
1600 Ocean Front Walk
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.393.6149 ext. 103
9am-12pm or 9am-2pm
Ages 6-10
Heal the Bay runs a Science Adventure Camp at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium that offers a hands-on, science-based, environmentally conscious learning experience right at the beach. Kids spend part of the day observing, handling, and learning about all sorts of marine life in the lab, and part of the day outside finding where science meets surf. Other activities include games, crafts, puppet shows, and kissing sea cucumbers. The first three weeks may be booked by the week only; the last week can be booked by the day. No before or after care is available, but when you pick up - you've got the Pier and the beach!

Aquarium of the Pacific Summer Camp
100 Aquarium Way
Long Beach, CA 90802
562.590.3100
8am-5pm (full and half day options available)
Ages 3-9
Kids can explore the Pacific ocean and its inhabitants during three-day and week-long day camps at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Campers of different ages participate in different class programs, with all getting behind-the-scenes opportunities to help care for and feed the marine life and learn about water quality. Little ones ages three to four attend with a parent. The aquarium also offers a sleepover camp for teens in August.

Ocean Institute
24200 Dana Point Harbor Dr.
Dana Point, CA 92629
949.496.2274
9am-4pm
Ages 5-14
How lucky are our kids that so much Southern Californian science happens at the beach? The Ocean Institute is right in the thick of things, with camps that explore marine biology both in the lab and at sea - from plankton to whales and everything in between. Older kids even get a chance to build and operate underwater ROVs. The Institute's camp programs include day, weekly, and overnight options. Older teens (14-17) can participate in the marine science careers internship program.

Rolling Robots
757 Americana Way
Glendale, CA 91210
818.241.2308
or
700 Silver Spur Road, Unit 101
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
888.ROBOT.08
10am-1pm or 2pm-5pm
Ages 5-14
One of those camps with a name that says it all, Rolling Robots offers different levels of technical challenge for different ages. Littlest kids get started experimenting with electronics, while older kids get to design robots and program them, finishing the week with the ability to build competition-level robots on their own - ready to take over this world or another of their choosing.

Robotics and Things
Agoura Hills
805.660.1809
Mon, Wed, & Fri 9am-3:30pm
Ages 7-14
Robotics and Things offers a summer of the ROBOTIX Experience, in which campers use California Science Standards to create robots, robotic creatures, and robotic vehicles. The curriculum, developed in cooperation with Caltech/JPL, lets kids who fantasize about building robots live out their fantasies, applying science, math, and engineering principles to intricate robotics kits that leave LEGOs (much as we love them) in the dust.

Mad Science
Locations all over the greater LA area
and Orange County, too
office address:
8107 Orion Ave.
Van Nuys, CA 91406
818.909.6777
9am-3pm (varies by location)
Ages: 5-12
Mad Science is a national company offering summer science camps in a wide variety of locations around Southern California. Serving so many different communities means that the prices and curricula vary quite a bit, but the theme that runs throughout is having fun with science in local community venues at reasonable prices. Individual camp weeks include Secret Agent Lab; Claws, Codes, & Constellations; Red Hot Robots; NASA Space Academy, and Crazy Chemworks.

Camp Tech Revolution at UCLA
308 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
310.988.2968
9am-5pm
Ages 7-14
Run by Lavner Camps on the UCLA campus, this summer tech camp allows kids to choose a different major and minor each week (just like some college kids). Options include robotics, game design, model rocketry, computer programming, web design, 3-D printing, Minecraft, and cyber security. Your kids could come out of a week of camp and be the solution to your home network woes!